GOODREADS ~ let's discuss

GOODREADS ~ let's discuss
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#goodreads #goodreadsnominees #goodreadschoiceawards

[@shawnieadams1319]

YES! Fantasy Romance needs its own category!

[@karisaysthings]

My local bookstore has separate displays for fantasy and romance fantasy. It makes sense. Hope goodreads consider that.

[@kefinkamed]

The fact that SJM always wins in the Fantasy category is the main reason why I don't take Goodreads Choice Awards seriously. And it's not because I hate SJM. I really don't. I think she's massively overrated but I can see the appeal. But with the Awards, it's like giving an Oscar for the best original screenplay to a Marvel movie. Do I enjoy Marvel? Absolutely. But the plot has never been their greatest strength. And the same applies to SJM. Also, I absolutely agree with you that Fourth Wing is most likely going to win, and that's just a horrifying thought 🤦‍♀️

[@run_conquer_prevail_9189]

I agree that fantasy romance needs it own category- for Goodreads and for marketing! Not all fantasy readers enjoy the romantic focus of those kinds of stories, but we still get targeted by them because we read fantasy. It’s super frustrating.

[@sophiehaslam2492]

i want there to be an indie/self published category as someone that reads quite a lot of indie fantasy books. it would elevate authors who probably wouldn't be nominated in the first place, kinda like the debut category i guess

[@katgreer6113]

Yes.

[@christeascozycorner]

there is no universe where fourth wing will not win whatever category it's in, and that upsets me greatly 🤣 i'm actually curious to see which category happy place will be in! whether romance or fiction because i believe it was published as a fiction (and shelved in fiction sections in bookstores) so that should be interesting!

[@BeckyJo8kids]

If none of the secret projects are nominated then I will be so incredibly disappointed. I have loved all three (yes, even including the second). I’ve read 150 books so far this year and these three are in my top five of the year. ❤

[@kartik3719]

My predictions for the Romance nominees: 1) Happy Place 2) Love, Theoretically 3) Things We Hide From the Light 4) Final Offer 5) Yours Truly 6) Meet Me At The Lake 7) Romantic Comedy 8) The Right Move 9) Practice Makes Perfect 10) Secretly Yours 11) The True Love Experiment 12) King of Pride 13) Powerless 14) Hello Stranger 15) Same Time Next Summer 16) A Long Time Coming 17) Wildfire 18) The Nanny 19) Georgie, All Along 20) In the Likely Event Winner Prediction: Happy Place; there is NO WAY this book will lose, it has nearly 3 times as many ratings as Love Theoretically its biggest competitor, at this point this is Emily Henry's world and we're all just living in it 😂

[@MarcelleLeiturasPreguicosas]

@@bubu_maczko the "problem" with Happy Place is that it's not a romance, is Woman Fiction, and is a really good book about a woman finding herself. The romance is a secondary plot, the main plot is Harriet's journey overall.

[@sandyokey1019]

Ugh, yes, I imagine Fourth Wing will win. I also wonder if marketing is already working on how they’re going to massage the rules to get Iron Flame in the running for next year.😊

[@liviajelliot]

I agree that Fantasy Romance should be a separate category - the readerships are different, and there are so many books. I didn't know that Sanderson never won it, that's so odd! Anyways, it was a very interesting discussion - I do agree that the contest does need some changes, but it's unlikely that Amazon would ever do it.

[@Eluarelon]

It's a popularity contest, and I don't base my reading choices on popularity. This said, even when I'm not into fantasy romance and don't care too much about the Choice Awards, there's still some pretty good books on the list of nominees every year. You just have to look a bit deeper into the offerings to find something you might really like. So while I would love to see fantasy romance getting their own category, that wouldn't change too much for me personally. Choice Awards would still be a popularity contest, after all, so I'd still have to take the winner with a grain of salt.

[@AshleyRebecca]

Godkiller was such a good book! I hope it’s nominated

[@ladyfox6705]

Same. Fantastic read and well-written, unlike a lot of books.

[@kartik3719]

My predictions for the Adult Fantasy Nominees (in no particular order): 1) Hell Bent 2) Fourth Wing 3) Ashes of the Star Cursed King 4) A Day of Fallen Night 5) Adventures of Amina Al Sirafi 6) The Book That Wouldn't Burn 7) The Will of the Many 8) Immortal Longings 9) Emily Wilde 10) Bookshops & Bonedust 11) Clytemnestra 12) Ink Blood Sister Scribe 13) Fragile Threads of Power 14) Last Tale of the Flower Bride 15) Witch King 16) He Who Drowned the World 17) Sword Catcher 18) Victory City 19) Swordcatcher 20) The Foxglove King 21) Untethered Sky 22) Weyward 23) One for My Enemy 24) Atalanta 25) VenCo Winner Prediction: Fourth Wing (If they do announce a separate Romantasy category then the winner will most likely be Hell Bent)

[@ebnovels]

I'm with you on Hellbent and A Day of Fallen Night! It's interesting because I think Goodreads considers Hellbent Fantasy, but retailers--at least the ones near me--almost always put it in fiction

[@kartik3719]

@@ebnovels They nominated Ninth House in fantasy the year it came out so they'll most likely nominate HB in fantasy too

[@gloriaboakye8980]

I’ve seen Divine Rivals all over tiktok so I feel like that’s bound to show up - haven’t read it so I don’t actually know in which category it would fall. JLA also has a few releases this year so I would be curious to see if any of them will show up since she did last year. I agree that there should definitely be a fantasy romance category!

[@ebnovels]

I completely forgot about JLA! I bet you're right

[@serenity8910]

Divine Rivals is such a good book. I'm not a YA reader and I didn't know much about the book when I started it and it really surprised me!

[@toqa6735]

I listened to the audiobook and loved it very much , felt like a hug .

[@jamond1]

Why Fourth Wing has such a high rating on Goodreads, but I found more videos with negative reviews than positive ones on YT.

[@kartik3719]

My predictions for the Fiction Nominees: 1) Yellowface 2) Hello Beautiful 3) Someone Else's Shoes 4) Pineapple Street 5) Maame 6) Really Good, Actually 7) The Wishing Game 8) The Collected Regrets of Clover 9) The Five-Star Weekend 10) Tom Lake 11) The Half Moon 12) Big Swiss 13) The Guest 14) The Bandit Queens 15) Adelaide 16) Birnam Wood 17) The Celebrants 18) Ripe 19) The Rachel Incident 20) Cassandra in Reverse Winner Prediction: Yellowface (Also how meta would it be that the book which specifically mentions the goodreads choice awards... Ends up actually winning the award 💀)

[@ebnovels]

Hahaha, that would be pretty great 😂 I'm really appreciating all of these predictions--it's making me want to expand my TBR :D

[@kartik3719]

@@ebnovels No problem! It's very fun going through the most popular books this year and making all these predictions

[@mandys1379]

I definitely wish there was more specific categories. Fantasy romance absolutely needs a category of its own!! Also I loved fourth wing, but Sanderson will be getting my vote over fourth wing because his books are just better imo.

[@kiraironskin]

In my library they have the extra shelf "Romantasy" and you can find aaaaaall the popular books there SJM, Fourth Wing ect ect. It´s great for readers with a specific taste and I totally agree that Romantasy needs to be it´s own genre.

[@missallisnow]

Fourth Wing winning awards makes me gag.

[@jaimee-kate]

I'm very excited for the GoodReads choice awards this year because it's the first year I've really been keeping an eye on and keeping up with new releases, and I feel like I've read enough of them to vote

[@MsJaytee1975]

I’m in the UK and it does feel like there are really popular books here that never get a look in, and if that happens in the UK, then I imagine it’s even worse everywhere else, so maybe some international categories would be an idea. I would theoretically like a category that was about books with disabled characters at their centre, but in practice the kind of books that would get nominated and win are the kind that make my skin crawl. I would love to see Unseelie win either in fantasy or YA, it was a five star book for me. I actually read it after you recommended it, so, thank you! I love Greek myth retellings, I’m reading a retelling of the Iliad just now which is great, one of my favourites is Atalanta by Jennifer Saint, it’s one where I like the myth and the retelling doesn’t change anything I like, but she does put a new spin on some things.

[@fcsolis]

Shannon Charkraborty. She's a new favorite author. Thank you.

[@kartik3719]

My predictions for the YA fantasy nominees: 1) Divine Rivals 2) Stolen Heir 3) Tress of the Emerald Sea (I think they could make a case for nominating it as YA) 4) Chain of Thorns 5) A Curse for True Love 6) Song of Silver Flame Like Night 7) These Infinite Threads 8) Stars and Smoke 9) Her Radiant Curse 10) A Study in Drowning 11) Foul Heart Huntsman 12) The Scarlet Alchemist 13) City of Nightmares 14) Foxglove 15) Silver in the Bone 16) House of Roots & Ruin 17) What the River Knows 18) Isles of the Gods 19) Never a Hero 20) Mysteries of Thorn Manor Winner Prediction: Divine Rivals; I think the winner would come down to DR, SH, or ACFTL... But i think Rivals will win because it's the first in a series and doesn't require reading any other book and thereby can attract a much larger audience than the other two

[@ebnovels]

Good point about Divine Rivals. I need to pick that one up!

[@alinapindrik7791]

Divine Rivals will probably also show up. And I’m hoping to see The Wager in non-fic.

[@dolphinsrock09]

I do agree Fantasy Romance needs it's own space. I am hoping with the secret projects they will group in one or just pick one of them because I would like more authors to get noticed and I think the Good reads choice awards is a good place.

[@brittreads5421]

Cassandra Clare also had chain of thorns come out this year. I thinking that will be nominated in YA as well.

[@RodgersReads]

Friggin' Fourth Wing is going to dominate and we all know it lolol

[@sackmet]

What would be cool, was if they made it so you could only vote in a category if you had read at least two books, and if you hadn't you just couldn't vote in that category, it would keep it more honest, rather then just voting on the person you've heard of even if you haven't read a single book in that category

[@nijinoshita3301]

I agree Fantasy Romance needs it's own category! I think this year I've read almost non of the nominees because I was very distracted catching up with one piece, but we'll see I mean I've actually read fourth wing and 2 1/2 sanderson secret projects (currently reading Yumi and the nightmare painter) so thats something

[@ladyfox6705]

Let me guess, the Fourth Wing will win. It is definitely a popularity contest. I have discovered after struggling through Mistborn & Tress, that Brandy Sandy is not my cup of tea, sadly. However, I definitely think that GodKiller should win a prize, as the book is amazing and well-written. This is why I haven't used Goodreads in years haha XD

[@rkgrkg]

Exactly! Popularity contest. It's usually something crowd-pleasing and easily digestible. Like pop music or McDonalds. And that's fine if you like that sort of thing. It's always fun to see something you love get recognised and celebrated. But I'm with you. I use Goodreads only for tracking my reading and chatting with family and friends about books. I wish there were a platform as popular that wasn't owned by Amazon. And I too gave Mistborn and the Cosmere a try, but they weren't for me.

[@books_and_heels]

Talking about Greek mythology, I believe Clytemnestra is going to be nominated.

[@melissamybubbles6139]

I don't normally follow the Goodreads awards, but after this video maybe I will, at least through you. I'm new to fantasy and I haven't read any of the books mentioned. I'm still trying to get through a history of Afghanistan.

[@akellerhouse83]

Wow. I read between 90-110 books every year and I watch a lot of booktube and keep my goodreads account updated. I haven't heard of most of those fantasy books you just mentioned. I don't know where I've been all year. Jeez.

[@netogrof]

I’m not sure if you mentioned it but Divine Rivals for sure will be in one of the categories

[@kiraironskin]

One more thing: Wouldn't it be nice, if only those can give a vote to a book, who have marked said book as "read" and gave a ratings and/or a review ?

[@bobkeane7966]

I liked Tress the different writing style really appealed to me.

[@poodlemuffin]

Sanderson has a huge number of fans, but he probably doesn’t actually have as many obsessive ones as booktube makes it seem. He’s fine, not amazing. Booktubers make the whole fandom feel like a creepy cult tbh.

[@tibisrkd]

so true!

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

I don't care much about the awards and don't read enough new releases to vote, but it's always to hear people discuss and see what's nominated.

[@toqa6735]

❤The ballad of never after ❤Divine rivals

[@animatedreader2267]

Fourth wing, HellBent, Threads of Power, Tress in the Emerald Sea in that order more than likely.

[@robert_lightsong]

Fantasy romance gives the Fantasy genre a bad name. I cringe when I tell people I’m a fantasy fan and they assume I mean fantasy romance 😕

[@lexi8445]

Great discussion. Unfortunately yeah, Fourth Wing is gonna win. The press backing behind this series is staggering. Grady Hendrix, Stephen Graham Jones, and Victor Lavalle also had releases in horror this year. As did Stephen King. King will probably win but Hendrix COULD unthrone him, he's kind of a rockstar. But King will probably win 😒

[@Katiedora122]

When I was digging through the awards last year and saw that Sanderson had never won (and also how the fantasy/paranormal romance categories have changed over the years), I think that might have annoyed me more than usual haha. For this year, I'm kind of betting on Tress being towards the top of votes since it was the first, but I lost all hope of him winning the second I saw your video about Fourth Wing ratings. But for romance, there were books by Ali Hazelwood and Abby Jimenez with higher average scores (though fewer ratings) that could edge out Emily Henry.

[@Sykydwp-dy3qk]

I wish you’re only able to vote for books if they’re actually on your read list. Sometimes people just vote without having to read the book. That would be a little for fair.

[@HankyUSA]

Ranked choice voting (AKA instant runoff) would completely solve the issue of similar books pulling votes from each other.

[@taliadavidovsky4569]

Was it a fever dream, or did they used to have a "paranormal romance" category in the choice awards?

[@heyimsasa]

i feel like most sanderson fans go on reddit whereas romance-fantasy readers tend to gravitate towards goodreads as far as social media goes. i agree that romance-fantasy deserves its own category.

[@sanfranchicken]

I was thinking Will of the Many and Divine Rivals might also be nominated.

[@kiraironskin]

And HOLY HOUSE OF! How did I miss the sequel? HOW?! 😱

[@telola56]

I just like awards to see what people are reading. I am a SJM fan and I will be voting for Fourth Wing. But I also like the rankings and to see what’s popular. Also if I guessed right on what’s popular. I also hope that read the popular books 😊and I can vote for them

[@northrh2309]

People didn't like Book of Night?! (sorry, I'm new to booktube and have no idea what people were saying last year.) That astounds me; I loved Book of Night.

[@zackattack366]

but have any of the secret projects been good enough to win. I get that it's Sanderson, but if it wasn't a popularity contest does the quality of those book merit winning?

[@ReadingNymph]

100% Fourth Wing will win 😅 I hope it doesn't 😂 I do think A Curse for True Love will win YA though

[@kiraironskin]

While I agree that there is no typicall fantasy anymore, I think it's safe to say, that romantasy books are the ones that focus on the romance plot the most. I am not a romance reader so I'd be very happy to see romantasy getting its own category so that other fantasy books can stand a chance again.

[@danielleoliver1734]

If ever there is a need to add a new category it’s fantasy romance, it it seems more likely we’ll loose a category than get one added. We used to have an urban fantasy category when that was big so it’s not impossible, but Amazon doesn’t really care so 🤷‍♀️

[@darkmatter9651]

Fourth Wing was just an ACOTAR bootleg. So... yeah. Make Fantasy Romance its own category.

[@mousumeenath4922]

Ava Reid's new book and Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross might also be nominated?

[@RecordingsofaReader]

I agree that they should make a fantasy romance category, but they should also stop putting YA stuff in with the adult stuff too.

[@idariis7239]

Do you have any thoughts about the upcoming Murtagh book from Christopher Paolini?

[@brooklynkelsey703]

Yes make fantasy romance its own thing so I can purposely avoid it. ;)

[@candimayes]

What is the difference between fantasy romance and romantacy? Or is it just different ways of saying the same thing? Thanks for helping me out. 😊

[@best_regards]

Yep

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

Lololol yes fourth wing is 100% gonna win 😂

[@eliananoei652]

Goodreads choice awards being a popularity contest makes it a good tool to witness trends. Romantasy is a trend in fantasy so I don't think it should be a different category.

[@M_aryAnne]

So I don’t think all 4 of Sandersons will be nominated. I think Tress and Yumi will be. The wizard one just wasn’t good lol and Sunlit technically won’t be published by tor until December which is when it can be considered because goodreads doesn’t do self published books which the secret projects are, technically.

[@travissmith6247]

Sorry irrelevant comment but do you have any recommendations that are like bakuman, welcome to the ballroom, like a butterfly(manhwa), real, or Beck: Mongolian chop squad. I’m looking for book recommendations(not comics/manga/manhwas/WEBTOON/etc.) that’s about people pursuing their dreams/goals and the ups and down that they face. I can’t seem to find regular books about that and sadly it’s not a category 😢 do you think you can help? Or anyone else reading this comment?

[@loruffa]

I can't help thinking they'll put Fourth Wing in YA

[@loruffa]

I wonder when there'll be a book to contend with SJM again. Addie LaRue was SO close, a mix of a popular author and a book that became a huge hit. I can't think what author could replicate that

[@jenniferkingsley2391]

I really want the true love experiment by Christina Lauren to win the romance category but I think Happy Place by Emily Henry will win 😕 . Also, I would love for Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher to be nominated

[@Marie45610]

I stopped voting in the Goodreads awards a couple of years ago. I'd like them to fix the site in general. It crashes at least twice a day.

[@toricarlini4474]

You should relieved for not Sarah J Maas this year

[@epiphoney]

What about scifi?

[@natyreadsbooks2484]

The fourth wing hype is already annoying me 😒

[@jessicastraw6593]

girl Fourth Wing is going to win, Sanderson doesn't stand a chance even if he only had one book this year

[@Alewo2735]

I can't believe I'm about to be on the side of SJM because I do not read fantasy "romance" but I wonder if Sanderson never winning has more to do with his problematic views? Everyone can read what they want and make their own choices about what matters to them when it comes to separation of books from author etc, but I know it matters to a lot of us and some people don't support him. But I 100% agree we need more separation of fantasy "romance" from actual fantasy!!

[@Journal_Jonesy]

I have never seen anything about him being problematic. I tried running a Google search and didn't find anything. If you could provide a little more details to help me find his problematic position, I would really appreciate it. ❤

[@Alewo2735]

@Journal_Jonesy He has made several homophobic comments due to his religious views. He's also issues apologies but reaffirmed those views even after apologizing.

[@Eluarelon]

@@Journal_Jonesy it's actually pretty easy to find. It's just very hard to ignore all the members from the LGBTQ+ community defending him because they believe that he honestly has changed his mind and tries his best to be supportive. Which also means that I don't believe that his "problematic" views have anything to do with him not winning the Choice Awards.

[@Journal_Jonesy]

@Alewo2735 Thank you for actually taking the time to point me in the right direction. I had tried several generic Google searches and wasn't getting anything negative. It actually generated a lot of positive feedback, so I was confused. I really appreciate it and will spend time learning more. 😌

[@krle24]

All 4 of Sanderson's books this year were mediocre. Either way, it's a Goodreads Popularity awards. Whichever YA Fantasy book was hyped the most this year it will win. As always.

[@ladyfox6705]

Exactly. Why I ditched Goodreads etc years ago.